Sanctioned Eavesdropping

Sometimes when I watch a movie, I'll be struck by a line or comment that is made which reverberates as absolutely true with me. Back in the 90s, a movie called "The Paper" starred Michael Keaton as a newsreporter who is a classic workaholic, driven by the adrenaline of getting the perfect story before the paper goes to press. He and his wife Marisa Tomei, who is equally driven, are expecting the birth of their first child at any time. She has been given time off though and there's a slight rift between them because she no longer has the same kind of pressure from deadlines. One evening, Keaton's character is supposed to join his wife and her parents for a long-delayed dinner. He promises to be there but a lead on a story comes in and he ends up missing the dinner. Later that night they have an argument and Marisa's charcter gives him a scenario:

Marisa: Suppose there was a terrorist. And he had a gun to my head and he told you to choose. The paper or me. What would you do?
Michael: Don't be ridiculous. Of course I'd choose you. But that would never happen.
Marisa: Exactly. We never have to make big choices like that. It's the little choices that we make every day that make a difference.

Of course this is all an approximation of what was said and my memory isn't so hot, but I remember being struck by the absolute truth of it. So this week, that's what we'll be doing--noticing the conversations that go around us and seeing what is interesting, strange, revealing, or even profound.